Rashad Bishop scored a career-high 23 points as the Cincinnati Bearcats beat the Providence Friars in overtime 93-81 Saturday night.
Yancy Gates added 21 points and eight rebounds, and Dion Dixon managed 16 points, including 14 in the first half. A 14-4 run by the Bearcats (21-6, 8-6 Big East) midway through the second half, keyed by two Sean Kilpatrick 3-pointers, created a 16-point lead.
The Friars (14-13, 3-11) then put together an 19-5 run of their own, marked by an emphatic, two-handed dunk by Ron Giplaye and punctuated by a Vincent Council 3-pointer to bring the margin down to two with just under 3 minutes to play.
With a minute left, a Marshon Brooks floater gave the Friars their first lead, 73-72, but Bishop hit a free throw to tie it, and a 3-point miss by Brooks kept the score tied at the end of regulation.
Cincinnati scored 10 unanswered points to start overtime, and Providence was unable to respond. Cincinnati shot a perfect 7 for 7 in the extra period.
Providence's free-throw shooting played a major role, as it finished the night 9 for 20, while the Bearcats shot 73 percent from the stripe (19 for 26). The Friars shot 25 percent from 3-point range (6 for 24).
Brooks paced Providence with 27 points and six rebounds, but also led his team in turnovers with five. This marked his ninth consecutive game with at least 20 points. Freshman Kadeem Batts contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Cincinnati's substitutes put up 50 points while the Friar bench only contributed 11.
Gerard Coleman, a Providence freshman who started the first 24 games of the season, was not in the starting lineup for the third consecutive game, and only played 12 minutes.
